Tuesday, January 28, 2014

If You Can't Say Something Nice . . .

Last year, while climbing one of Bulgaria’s many beautiful
mountains, Sasha and I came across a man sunbathing next to a lake. We asked him for directions and he kindly
obliged. After hearing my accent, he asked
where I was from. I told him I was from
America, and he began a rant about how terrible America was. We thanked him for the directions, and we
continued along our way thinking he must be a little crazy.

Every day, I am surrounded by Bulgarians. I live as a guest in Bulgaria. Like everywhere in the world, Bulgaria has
some good aspects and some bad ones.
When I am asked what I think about Bulgaria, I tell my Bulgarian friends
the good things. I would never go on an
anti-Bulgaria rant about the things I dislike here because that would be
unkind. (Besides, Bulgaria has so much
good in it that I can easily overlook the bad.)

When Sasha was in America, there were things she liked and
things she disliked, yet she would never openly declare her dislikes before
others because it is rude to insult someone’s culture. This is common courtesy. Only rude people would act in such a manner. Like the man on the mountain, such people seem
a little nuts.

What seems rude in face to face conversations, often becomes
acceptable in the world of social media.
Far too often, I have seen comments by immigrants to other countries
insulting their host country on Facebook.
If you have even one Facebook friend who is from the host culture, this
is dangerous territory. You are openly
insulting their nation and culture. How
would you like it if they went on an anti-wherever-you- are-from rant? It is one thing to criticize your own country
and culture. It is another thing to criticize
someone else’s.

As a guest in Bulgaria, I try to stay positive in my posts
about my current home. This is a country
of beauty, and the people here are generally kind and welcoming. Do they have flaws? Of course they do. But it is not my job to point them out.

To all my expat friends, I make this request. Keep it nice on social media. By only sharing the good things you will keep
more friends, and you may just find that the bad things are not so bad.